A week ago Sebastian Vettel would never have dreamt to be in the driver’s seat of a BMW at this year’s Grand Prix in Indianapolis.

Following Robert Kubica’s crash on Sunday in Montreal, his miraculous escape with only minor injuries and the doctor’s decision not to permit him to race in Indianapolis Vettel’s chance in F1 became a surprising reality on Thursday.

The 19-year old German (test) driver looked very confident during Friday’s and Saturday’s practice sessions with a 4th place in the first practice on Friday and a 2nd position in Saturday’s session.

The F1 race in Montreal this weekend was a perfect example of how Formula 1 should present itself to the public. A spectacular event to watch with al lot of action, the occasional crash and close racing.

The only ‘downside’ to Montreal’s F1 performance was the dominating way in which Lewis Hamilton collected his first ever win in Formula 1. But even that was spectacular in a way that the rookie of the year (I don’t think anyone else can snatch this ‘title’ away from Hamilton) only needed 6 races to catch his first win.

Of course, the biggest miracle of Sunday’s race was Robert Kubica’s crash into the wall, doing 260 km/h (162 mph) on impact. The polish driver escaped the horrendous crash with only minor injuries (broken leg) and was fully conscious when the medical staff got him out of his completely destroyed BMW Sauber. He left the hospital on Monday.

The reigning World Champion, Fernando Alonso, clocked the fastest times in Fridays training session at Indianapolis.

The Spaniard, who seems to be in distress because he was being outpaced by his rookie teammate Hamilton in Canada (and Monaco if Ron Dennis hadn’t put out the team order to Hamilton teliing him not to pass Alonso), needed today’s performance if only for his own mental wellbeing.

Williams also had a remarkable good session on Friday with the second en fourth time of the day.

Still, this is only Fridays practice session so we will have to wait and see how Alonso performs in Saturday’s qualifying.

The 54th edition of the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix has become a major succes for McLaren with a win for Worldchampion Fernando Alonso, closely followed by his teammate, and revelation of the season, Lewis Hamilton in second place.

After a dominating performace from Filippe Massa in Bahrein and Barcelona, the Brasilian Ferrari driver not only had to settle for the 3rd spot in Monaco, but also had to deal, mentally, with the fact that he finished 69 seconds behind the winning McLaren of Fernando Alonso, almost a whole lap behind.

The three drivers on the podium were the only cars that finished in the same lap. All other drivers had been lapped at least once.

Alonso and Hamilton now share the lead in the Drivers Championship, both with 38 points. Technally Alonso is the sole leader because he has more ‘wins’ than Hamilton (two as opposed to none). Massa is still in third place, 5 points behind the two McLaren drivers. Kimi Raikkonen is still in fourth place, despite only finishing in 8th place after he had to start from the 16th spot op the grid due to his crash during qualifying.